1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related generally to a driver allocation system and method, and more specifically to a system including mobile computing devices with application software capable of assigning and managing resources such as drivers, and the process to retrieve and drop off targets from locations throughout the world and drop those targets off at desired locations.
2. Background and Description of the Related Art
Automobile businesses need to transport vehicles from one point to another on a regular basis. Examples include transporting individual vehicles to and from locations such as auction houses, dealer lots, inspection stations, etc. Presently, the requestors use methods such as making phone calls, or using the services of third parties to find, organize and manage drivers. Existing processes of transporting vehicles via these methods are slow, inefficient, difficult to manage, and costly. They are prone to problems caused by events including, but not limited to, loss of paperwork such as gate passes, vehicle condition reports, and payment receipts by drivers, etc. Timely availability of drivers, tracking of vehicles in parking lots and in-transit on real time basis, establishing instant communication with and monitoring and control of drivers by the requestors are not possible because the communication is carried by phone. The confusion makes the process difficult to manage. Multiple vehicles transported from same origin to same destination with each vehicle being driven by each driver make it necessary for the requestor to repeat the same instructions to each driver. Repetition of the same instruction multiple times unnecessarily ties up valuable management times of the requestors making the process slow and inefficient. Real time vehicle sequencing during the auction sales, locating the vehicles in the large auction lots where thousands of vehicles are stationed, managing and monitoring of each auto sales process during auction, and inserting and managing the sales of out of sequence vehicles brought by customers are now carried through verbal, phone communications and CB radios, and many confusions and costly mistakes occur.
Overall, the existing process is costly for the requestors and the drivers alike because (1) the requestors spend a lot of time in managing the system such as but not limited to giving directions to each driver separately, VIN and Gate Pass information, and special instructions, making phone calls back and forth, (2) of thefts by unscrupulous drivers and others e.g. stolen headrest, missing books, keys, drive shift knobs, (3) drivers do not drive on clock but bill for more hours, (4) third party companies are paid for their services as a middle man, (5) accurate delivery time cannot be determined, (6) drivers are not paid for any lost receipt and (7) of inability to enforce driver accountability during vehicle transporting. Also, reporting by the drivers to reconcile the vehicle condition (e.g. as to dents and scratches) at the auction house exit gate with the condition at the auction bid acceptance time is not easily executed in the existing process. Condition status reports are now communicated verbally by the drivers to the requestors. This verbal system has many deficiencies such as the requestor being usually very busy and multitasking may totally forget to record the problem, or may assign the problem to the wrong vehicle or wrong location in the vehicle. For example, vehicle A in actuality may pull to the right while driving; instead the requestor may assign the problem to vehicle B as being pulled to the left. Therefore, finding and repairing the problem become costly.
An additional problem of vehicle transporting using the present standard is caused by the way insurance is handled. Presently, insurance providers that underwrite insurance policies to the drivers and dealers do not have adequate means to gather appropriate and desirable data that serve the interests of the providers. The underwriters rely on the data that the dealers or insurance agents provide them, do not have any means to verify the accuracy and authenticity of the data and accept the data mainly based on faith. During the application process for purchasing insurance, the purchasers such as dealers, auctioneers, and drivers are asked by the insurance companies to answer the type of questions some of which are listed below: a) How many cars do you estimate that you transport with drivers or Drive-Away? b) Are the driver(s) employee(s) or independent contractor(s)? c) If employee(s), please list driver license number (DL No.), social security no (SSN), date of birth (DOB) etc. d) How far are the trips typically? Please give radius. e) How many of these trips are made within the estimated radius? f) What is the maximum distance of the drive? g) What is the highest value of vehicle you expect to drive?
Many drivers are independent individuals who do not have driver employees. Although these individuals have personal auto insurance, they do not have “commercial” insurance that covers the cars they drive for others when “working,” and Workman Compensation, collision liability and physical damage. Dealers take the risk with independent drivers essentially carrying most if not all of the risks by buying insurance policies usually with high deductibles to save on cost of high premiums. Major losses result in high future premiums or cancellation. Of course, the dealers have the choice to hire drivers as their employees which results in higher costs including FICA, taxes, insurance etc.
There are also driver's unions which add additional expense to dealers and other requesting parties. These costs are unavoidable if a dealer goes through a union or union-affiliated service for acquiring drivers, which presently may be necessary in some locations or for some jobs, due to a lack of alternative services.
Presently, insurance policies to cover transporting of vehicles by drivers are underwritten based on bulk volume of vehicles or piggy-backing on other policies, and the policies are based on periodic rates such as daily, monthly, quarterly, yearly etc. Premiums for these types of policies are quite high.
Each transporting trip is generally different from others as to such variables as the transporting distance, property value, ownership of the asset, insurance, and legal and other requirements. Customization of each trip is presently accomplished by time consuming and costly manual methods. Examples of trip customization include items such as handling of assigned license plate and expenses. Involved parties frequently forget to gather necessary documents including license plates. Such lapses at the least cause costly delays and additional travels. Customizable trip-by-trip features, such as handing of license plates and expenses, are not adequately addressed by the present method of assigning drivers to retrieve targets such as automobiles to be sold at auction or at remotely located dealerships.
What is desired is to develop a system that will be more efficient, easier to customize, faster, easier to manage, and less costly. A desired insurance system would also include situations where if a car, X, is transported by a driver, Y, from point, A, to point, B, the insurance policy for this trip consists of the trip from point, A, to point, B, by the driver, Y, and for the time period needed to complete the trip. Once the trip is completed the policy is terminated. The stake holders in this new paradigm of insurance are the dealer (car owner), the driver and the insurance underwriter. The cost of the insurance premium in this case could be shared partially by the dealer and the driver through mutually agreeable terms. A desired system would also include a trip-specific electronic transmission of a digital license plate to the driver of the vehicle.
Heretofore there has not been available a drive-away driver allocation system and method of assigning drivers for target pick-ups with the advantages and features of the present invention.